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Birds of a Feather
Birds of a Feather is the sixth short story which appeared in the anthology , published in May 1950. The story was first published in Illustrated, 1942 and was later reprinted in Commander Story Annual in 1956. The events in the story take place during the Second World War at R.A.F. Fenham, a Bomber Command station, and also on board a bomber during a bombing mission to Hamburg. Synopsis Rumbolt, the pilot-in-command of an R.A.F. bomber finds that he has a new crewman by the name of Kenton on a bombing mission to Hamburg. Halfway through the flight, both Rumbolt and Kenton are held at gun point by an enemy agent who has somehow managed to get on board and who uses their aircraft as a convenient means of getting back home. That, however, would not be the last surprise for Rumbolt and Kenton. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Just as Rumboldt, a Czech bomber pilot in the R.A.F., is starting up his aircraft for his raid on Hamburg, he is joined by another officer, Kenton, who tells him he is replacing his usual crewman, Baxter, who had suddenly fallen sick. Part way through the flight, Rumboldt and Kenton feel a bump, as though someone had just jettisoned their bombs. They are then confronted by an unknown man with a gun who orders them to fly east. After a while, the man, satisfied that he has reached his destination, parachutes out of the aircraft. Rumboldt and Kenton decide that it is not safe to break radio silence to report the incident and so they fly back to base. Back home, Rumboldt and Kenton approach their squadron C.O. Rumboldt tells him what had happened. Then Kenton tells Rumboldt that he has observed something strange. Why did the agent not simply shoot them and so help dispose of an enemy bomber? Why let it go home? There is one possible reason--the agent's network was hoping to use the bomber again. Kenton now reveals that he is actually Davis, of Air Intelligence, and that he knows Rumboldt is Otto Schaffer, a German secret service agent. Davis had been keeping an eye on him all along ever since his alledged escape from Czechoslovakia. And the man they had just dropped was Broener, another German secret agent. At least he got away, Rumbolt/Schaffer sneers. Oh no, replied Davis, Broener had used a parachute which had been sewn up! Characters *Rumboldt *Kenton Aircraft *R.A.F. night bomber, probably an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Ships Places Visited *RAF Bomber Command station at Fenham Research Notes The text is vague about the aicraft type and even the crew positions. Perhaps this was in view of wartime security concerns. Rumboldt is obviously the pilot-in-command as he is referred to as the captain of the aircraft. He thinks of Kenton as his "companion for the next eight hours" and during the flight, Kenton takes an astro-sight, suggesting that he is a navigator. This suggests that the aircraft in use was an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley where the second pilot (thus "companion") also doubled as the navigator. Kenton also mentions that he had flown Whitleys. In a Vickers Wellington. some crews had a second pilot but usually the navigator was a separate person. In crews where there was no second pilot, the navigator doubled as the bomb-aimer. But this does not fit the description of Kenton's activities on board the aircraft. Publication History References Category:Short stories Category:Other short stories Category:Adult short stories